Guest Artists
Over the course of the Fall 2020 semester, individuals from all corners of the art world joined us to share their insights, their experiences, and their unique perspectives.
Adrien Finlay, September 9
Adrien Finlay currently serves as Executive Director of Music Worcester, a performing arts presenting organization based in Central Massachusetts, and focuses on enhancing revenue streams and maximizing new CRM systems. Originally from RI, he pursued studies in music and arts management at Harvard University and American University. With a career that was born out of summer positions at music festivals throughout the Northeast, he previously held posts at the Alexandria Symphony (VA) and Glimmerglass Opera (NY).
Email: adrien@musicworcester.org
Named Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum in 2011, James Welu joined the staff of the Museum in 1974 as assistant curator and went on to serve 6 years as chief curator and 25 years as director. He holds a BA from Loras College, an MA and MFA in studio art from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in art history from Boston University. A specialist in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art, Welu has published and lectured widely and organized a variety of exhibitions. He served as president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and chair of the Accreditation Commission of the American Alliance of Museums. Welu remains active in numerous Worcester organizations, serving on the board of Preservation Worcester, Worcester World Affairs Council, and Friends of Institute Park. Welu continues to lecture at the Worcester Art Museum and is a Visiting Professor at the College of the Holy Cross and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Email: jwelu@holycross.edu
James A. Welu, September 23
Elizabeth LatifaNoor Anderson, cellist of the Cassatt String Quartet has toured with the CSQ in the US, Mexico, China, and Japan. This season they are bringing their love for quartet music to audiences in non-traditional outdoor venues such as the Mohonk Mountain House boat dock and at Campwoods in Ossining NY. They recently collaborated with composer Shirish Korde in a Cinematic Zoom premiere of Noor Inayat Khan’s Aede of the Ocean and Land that included a cast of twenty-two musicians in ten time zones from five countries.
As a founding member of the celebrated Meliora Quartet, Ms. Anderson was a winner of the Naumburg Award and recorded the Mendelssohn Octet for Telarc with the Cleveland Quartet. Her recordings for RCA Red Seal, Telarc and Nonesuch have been highly acclaimed including her release of premier recordings of Luigi Silva's extraordinary transcriptions.
Anderson was formerly a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Middlebury College, the Longy School of Music, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Ms. Anderson studied with Jacqueline DuPre, Steven Doane, Paul Katz, YoYo Ma, Wallace Rushkin and Leonard Rose and holds Bachelor of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and California State University at Sacramento and a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music.
Elizabeth LatifaNoor leads the Light of Harmony Center in Dobbs Ferry, NY, an interfaith Sufi meditation group. She is a student of North-Indian Classical voice and her CD “Latifa Noor” includes improvisations on cello, voice and tamboura. http://cdbaby.com/cd/latifa.
Email: elizabeth@cassattquartet.com
Elizabeth Anderson, October 7
Bass-baritone Dashon Burton has established a vibrant career in opera, recital, and with orchestra. In key elements of his repertoire — Bach’s Passions and the B minor Mass, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven 9, the Brahms Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem – Dashon is a frequent guest with the major orchestras of the United States, Europe, and Japan.
He is also an original member of the groundbreaking vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, with whom he won a Grammy for their recording of Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer-Prizewinning Partita for 8 Voices.
Email: dashonburton@gmail.com
Dashon Burton, October 14
Soprano Jennifer Zetlan is internationally recognized for her artistry and captivating stage presence. She has been seen and heard on opera and concert stages worldwide, as well as on Broadway. The 2019-2020 season included the reprise of her role as Ellen in Ellen West (Ricky Ian Gordon/Frank Bidart) with the Prototype Festival, will reprise the role of Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg (Derrick Wang) with Opera Carolina and Opera Grand Rapids, and she was the cover of Queen Tye in Akhnaten (Glass) with the Metropolitan Opera. In the 2017-1019 seasons, Ms. Zetlan was soprano soloist in Carmina burana with the Kansas City Symphony, Fauré’s Requiem at St. John of the Divine, Ginsburg in Scalia/Ginsburg with Opera Delaware, the title role in Ellen West with Opera Saratoga, as well as the cover of Laura Fleet in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Marnie. Ms. Zetlan created the title role in Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt (Musto/Einhorn) for On Site Opera, reprised her role in Crossing (Aucoin) with American Repertory Theatre, reprised the role of Fanny in the New York premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star, and joined the San Francisco Symphony as Xenia in Boris Godunov.
On Singing the Title Role in Ricky Ian Gordon’s “Ellen West”
Email: jennifer@jenniferzetlan.com
Jennifer Zetlan, October 21
Dasha Koltunyuk, October 21
As a pianist, Dasha (Darya) Koltunyuk, has enjoyed performing both as a soloist and a chamber musician throughout the United States, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, and the United Kingdom, while claiming top prizes at national and international competitions. She studies privately with Professor Miyoko Lotto in New York City, after previously attending Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Division, and the Royal College of Music in London. Having completed a summa cum laude degree in Comparative Literature at Princeton University, focusing on the intersection between music and literature, Dasha continues to extend her love of music beyond performance. This includes launching the Opportunity Music Project chamber music summer camp for low-income NYC children as a winner of the Davis Project for Peace, and establishing Live Music Meditations at Princeton University Concerts as Outreach Manager for the series, shortly after graduation. She continues to be part of the inspiring team at Princeton University Concerts, living in Princeton, NJ with her soulmate Gregg Kallor and their tomato plant, Tobias.
Sari Uricheck is a consultant for arts and cultural organizations leading research and strategy for business development and operations. She currently works as Project Director for the Cultural Heritage Finance Alliance on portfolio development and stakeholder engagement. To this role, she brings an MBA in sustainable business and twenty years of international work in the museum and heritage sector, with institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Worcester Museum of Art!
Email: sari.uricheck@gmail.com
Sari Uricheck, October 28
Srinivas Reddy is a scholar, translator and musician. He studied classical South Asian languages and literatures at UC Berkeley and currently teaches at Brown University and IIT Gandhinagar. Srinivas is also a concert sitarist and spends his time performing, teaching and conducting research around the world. His books include Krishnadevaraya’s Amuktamalyada (Penguin 2010) and Kalidasa’s Meghadutam and Malavikagnimitram, and Raya: Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara (Juggernaut 2020). www.srinivasreddy.org
Email: info@srinivasreddy.org
Srinivas Reddy, November 4
Dedicated to supporting artists and cultural organizers in the design of processes and programs to align with their missions, visions, and values, Ariel Davis is an independent arts consultant and practitioner. Ms. Davis has spent time working at The Kennedy Center, National Arts Strategies, Washington Performing Arts, The Washington Women in Jazz Festival, and The MusicianShip.
Ariel Davis is currently the manager for The String Queens, a trio of women that have performed across the United States at venues including Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. You can find out more about their work here. Ms. Davis is also a member of the Knowledge and Strategy team for The Lewis Prize for Music, an organization that provides support to music leaders and organizations across the country, has served as a guest speaker for organizations including Georgetown University and Chamber Music America, and has contributed as a grants panelist for the Department of Education, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, and the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Ms. Davis’ written work has appeared in the online journal for the International Leadership Association.
Ariel Davis, November 11
Ariel Davis’ passion for the arts began onstage, as a former freelance French Horn player. Ms. Davis has had the opportunity to perform with ensembles across the world, from an international festival in Guadeloupe celebrating the work of composer Chevalier de Saint George, to the Grammy’s stage with Lizzo. She takes as many opportunities to visit her hometown of Detroit, Michigan as she can, and is a graduate of Howard University, where she obtained her degree in Music Business.
Email: aedavis@kennedy-center.org
Tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das is one of the few Indian classical musicians to have collaborated with major symphony orchestras, string quartets, and jazz musicians. Das is the founder of HUM (Harmony and Universality through Music), which promotes global understanding through performance and education, and provides learning opportunities and scholarships for young, specially-abled artists to empower them to lead self-reliant lives. Das is trained in the centuries-old Indian tradition of Guru-Shishya Parampara, studying and living with his Guru—Pandit Kishan Maharaj—and learning and practicing music as a way of life, more than just an art form. Sandeep has been an artist in residence at universities including Dartmouth, Brandeis, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Clara University, College of the Holy Cross, Juilliard School, Berklee College of Music, and UC British Columbia.
Sandeep Das, November 18
Cellist and Artist-in-Residence at the College of the Holy Cross Jan Müller-Szeraws has an active career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Solo performances have included engagements with the New England Philharmonic, Concord Orchestra, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción, Orquesta de la Universidad de Santiago de Chile and Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile with repertoire ranging from concertos from the traditional repertoire such as Haydn, Dvorak, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich to contemporary composers Chou Wen Chung, Gunther Schuller, Bernard Hoffer and John Harbison. Recent projects have been the release of "Anusvara", a disc with music by Shirish Korde for cello, tabla and carnatic soprano, the premiere of "Mutations" for solo cello and computer by Chris Arrell, the premiere and recording of "Suite for Solo Cello" by Thomas Oboe Lee as well as a disc with sonatas by Brahms and Chopin with pianist Adam Golka for Hammond Performing Arts. He has been guest professor at the Universidad Católica de Chile, a guest with the Israeli Chamber Project as well as guest principal cellist for the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany. He is member of contemporary music ensemble Boston Musica Viva and Boston/Andover based ensemble Mistral. Also on the faculty at Phillips Academy Andover, he is a frequent guest artist at many festivals and is founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Holy Cross, an intensive summer program for talented high-school and college students. Müller-Szeraws studied at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and holds degrees from Boston University. He plays a cello by David Tecchler, on loan from the Saul and Naomi Cohen Foundation.
Email: jmuller@holycross.edu
